The Busy World Of Working From Home

Working from home is the dream for everybody. It is something that many people has fantasized about for years as they sit in their office and attend meetings and stand awkwardly at the elevator next to coworkers that they recognize but couldn’t tell you their names.

There are many positives about working from home, but there are also challenges, too. Those who have never done it before both envy you but also believe that you’ve got it easy. You can wake up whenever you want (false), you can work at your own pace (false), you can finish when you want (false) and you don’t have to answer to anybody (really false).

It is not all just lounging about in your pajamas and watching TV, working from home can be just as challenging as heading into the office every day. Despite the fact you can save money on commuting and eating out for lunch and having to deal with those annoying co-workers you find in every office, it is still work.

TIME MANAGEMENT

Maintain your schedule when working from home can get confusing. There are so many distractions at home that you can easily find yourself buried under an avalanche of other things that you always thought you could complete later.

Furthermore, there is the case of organizing meetings and appointments with potential clients or customers. Most people won’t want to meet at their house, and so you need to decide on a suitable alternate location for these meetings to be carried out.

Fortunately, you can download and use some of the best free scheduling software available to make it easier for you to know what’s coming up, what you have free, and any important dates that might otherwise be missed.

MOTIVATION

Having no one to continually check up on your throughout the day seems like a great little slice of freedom that makes you look down on all those office chimps who are getting berated by upper management all day. But the reality of having no one to answer to can quickly sap away any motivation that you might typically feel in a traditional office environment.

Working from home makes you feel like you have all day to get your work done. You’re not looking at the clock, counting down the seconds until five o’clock when you can leave and trying to get everything done before the whistle blows for the end of the day.

But time gets away from you without realizing, and a leisurely morning where you’ve made your cup of coffee and had an extended breakfast can suddenly become nearly one o’clock in the afternoon, and you realize you haven’t achieved anything.

UTILITIES

Unlike working in an office, working from your own home means you are responsible for maintaining your own utilities such as gas, water, electricity and, most importantly, internet. Unlike the office, if your internet goes down at home, it can ruin your productivity for the day and means you have to either cut your losses and stop, making up the work at a later date, or instead go out to a cafe or friend’s house where internet is readily available.

Some will see this as a minor inconvenience. However, it can disrupt your day in more ways than one. You might lose your flow; you might be unable to access files or find that some files are corrupt. Most people own laptops, but if you have a desktop, it is impossible to transfer this hardware anywhere else without losing a good chunk of time.

ISOLATION

Anybody who has spent too long inside knows the effect it can have on your mind. The problem is that this is so easily triggered, it is too easy to just not leave the house if you have no reason to that you might get the end of the week or the month and realize you haven’t smelt fresh air in far too long.

Furthermore, if you live alone or with a partner who leaves the house during the day, you can suffer from loneliness. At first, having the whole place to yourself is fantastic, but this can get old fast, and by the end of the day you will be awaiting your roommate of partner’s return like a dog bounding at the door when they hear the car pull up.

Working from home is a much better situation than dragging yourself into an office every day, but it is no walk in the park. Those who do conduct their business from the comfort of their couch need to demonstrate proper time management and motivation if they are to continue enjoying the luxury that being accountable for yourself brings.